Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage to be Awarded March 15

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci will be awarded Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci (top), with (L-R): Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Pinar Keskinocak, Joshua Weitz, Dr. Carlos del Rio, and Ann W. Cramer.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci (top), with (L-R): Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Pinar Keskinocak, Joshua Weitz, Dr. Carlos del Rio, and Ann W. Cramer.

Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage — the Institute’s premier award — will be presented to Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday, March 15, at 3 p.m. and livestreamed at ivanallenprize.gatech.edu. The annual award honors individuals who have stood up for moral principles at the risk of their careers, livelihoods, and even their lives.

Previous honorees include the late Rep. John Lewis; Dr. William Foege, who led the strategy to eliminate smallpox; African civil rights advocate Beatrice Mtetwa; United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young; activist Nancy Parrish; former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter; Dr. Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the first Black students enrolled at the University of Georgia; and former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn.

Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19, one of the most significant public health challenges in a century. He became a household name as he sought to deliver information, in the face of public criticism from skeptics and the Trump administration, about how best to protect each other from the highly transmissible virus that causes Covid-19.

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera will present the award. Dr. Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will make remarks.

The virtual presentation will be followed by an in-person panel discussion on lessons learned from the pandemic, preparing for the next pandemic, and social courage. Panelists are Dr. Carlos del Rio, Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and executive associate dean for Emory at Grady Health System; Pinar Keskinocak, William W. George Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech; and Joshua Weitz, Patton Professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences at Georgia Tech. Ann W. Cramer, senior consultant with Coxe Curry and Associates, will serve as moderator.

The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage is named for former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., a graduate of Georgia Tech, who at great personal and political risk was the only southern white elected official to testify before Congress in support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, said, “Our College was founded on Ivan Allen Jr.’s legacy of transformative urban leadership and socially and ethically conscious action. We take pride in those values, which continue to be integral in our teaching, research, and public engagement. I look forward to hearing from Dr. Fauci and each of the panelists on how their work exemplifies social courage for the good of others.”

Watch the livestream at ivanallenprize.gatech.edu.

Ask questions prior to the event by emailing events@comm.gatech.edu.

For inquiries regarding the event, please contact Stephanie Sigler at s.sigler@gatech.edu.

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